Family Assessment: Integrating Multiple Clinical Perspectives

Cierpka (Institute of Psychosomatic Cooperative Research, U. of Heidelberg, Germany) et al. compile 13 essays by US and German scholars and practitioners on the study of families in therapy. Their goal is to gain insight by comparing psychological methods used in the two countries as well as two different theories about family psychodynamic and systemic. The first two chapters give a foundation by discussing the definition of family and its different levels (individual, dyadic, and triadic). Subsequent contributions describe the preliminary interview process, family assessment, families in social context, families over many generations, the genogram (a diagram showing information about a family and its generations), and parenting. Case studies and key assessment questions are included. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)